We're going to be in the book of Ephesians again, if you'd like to turn there. The first hour we heard the unsearchable riches of Christ, unsearchable riches of Christ. And we've been caused to see the theme of this chapter is really the theme throughout the entire Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

In this hour, we're going to be looking at the love of Christ. That's what I've titled this message, the love of Christ. It's found in our text. The Lord puts it upon Paul's heart to make a reference to the Lord's love that we may know or comprehend the breadth, the height, the width, and the depth. And only the Lord can be our teacher that teaches that. There's no way we can understand it to the fullness, but we do comprehend that it's infinite. It's eternal. I can comprehend that. I don't completely understand that, but I can believe it by faith.

So the love of Christ is what I've titled this. Let's read our texts. Ephesians chapter three, verse 13 through 19 says, wherefore I desire that you should not faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees under the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ with passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

The love of Christ is a mystery, a mystery that is past finding out. How do we know that? Well, if you ask people, about the love of Christ, most people don't know the proper answer. They'll say that he loves everybody, that he died for everybody. And that's not true. It's not true. and I only understand and believe it by His faith that He's given us. That's the one thing needful. If He doesn't give us faith we can't believe it. We can't believe Him. And that's the difference between the truth and the lie is that it's not just that we believe good doctrine. It's not just that we believe the Scripture. It's not just that we learn about and educate ourselves on what thus saith the Lord in the Bible. We believe God over our self. We believe what He says to be the truth. We deny our self, our knowledge. We deny our Our love, even. It's not my love that saved me, it's His. We deny our power. It's not my power that saved me, it's His.

The only way that someone can do that is if the Lord gives faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we're going to continually look to self to try to satisfy God. And that's an impossibility, isn't it?

Though the love of Christ is unsearchable and past finding out, we can measure it, comprehend it to some degree, When we look at it as far as being everlasting, I can comprehend that. I can comprehend it being eternal. But how do you, how does, how does that sink in whenever I say everlasting? That means it never had a beginning and it never had an end. How can my little brain believe that?

Well, thankfully the Lord gave me faith to believe it because my brain can't. If it was up to us, we couldn't believe anything. We don't understand anything we believe. We just believe it by faith. That's what the Lord does. He causes us to believe the unbelievable. This is an unbelievable gospel. Nobody can believe it unless the Lord causes them to.

Although his love reaches from eternity to eternity, and it's infinite in measurement, infinite in measurement, it is breadth, length, height, and depth. What is that verse that says, my God, let's see, that's not the right one. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask for. Thank according to the power that work within us.

Okay. His love is exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask for. Thank everything about the Lord's love is past finding out his love passes knowledge yet it's special. It's particular it's free and it's by grace alone. That's the good news. runs through all time and to all eternity to his people.

Which brings us to the three questions that were in our text, or that I was prompted to write down as a result of our text, the love of Christ. Who does Christ love? That's the first one. Second question is how could the holy sovereign creator love a sinner like me or a sinner like you? How? And lastly, what does it mean if he loves me? What does it mean if Christ loves me? And I hope Lord being our teacher this morning, I'm able to answer those questions and the Lord reveal himself as only he can.

I'm going to take off this jacket. I got too hot last week. I'm not doing that again. Just bear with me. All right.

First, who does Christ love? Now, when we're talking about love, you and I have a love that's changing, changing. I can give us an example. I would tell you that I love my wife more now than I did when we first got married. That love changed. That's good that it got better, not worse. I mean, that could go the opposite way, too. But God's love don't change. Think about that. God's love, and this is something that's not preached on very often, God's love is 100% conditional, 100% conditional. But the condition you can't meet, the condition is Christ. That is the condition of his love. I have to be as righteous as his son, as holy as his son, as just, as good, as perfect as the Lord Jesus Christ. That is who the Lord loves, those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're not talking about an uncertain changing love here, we're talking about the everlasting love of God. It means it never had a beginning, it never had an end. He said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, before their children were even born, before either one of them had done any good or evil, that the purpose of election, the purpose of God according to election might stand. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.

We are the only, the only gospel, it's the only gospel, but the gospel that we preach is the only gospel that really and truly declares the love of God. Everybody else declares a love that doesn't exist. It would not mean a whole lot. I'll use you, Jonah, as an example. His wedding, I asked the question, Jonah, do you love Sam exactly the same as all these other women here in all the world?" And he said, no. I said, no, you love her particularly, don't you? Why? Because she's going to be your bride. You fell in love with her. She's something special to you. And so it is with our Lord. He doesn't love everybody the exact same and salvation is not an offer to people or the love of Christ meant nothing.

Here's a statement I'll make. If Jesus Christ loves everyone, What does His love have to do with salvation? If some of them go to hell, what does His love have to do with salvation? It means it would be useless. It's a useless love. But His love is particular, particular to His people, the elect of God, the ones the Father gave to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ loves His people. He also loves His Father. It was His devotion to the Father. He said, I come to do Thy will, O Lord. It was his devotion to the Father where he set his eyes like a flint to the cross, the scripture says, in order to redeem the ones that God had elected. He was the only one that could do it. And he said, I come to do thy will, O God. That's why the Lord said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

So the Lord loves his people and the Lord loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. And we're given that exact same love, one towards another, one towards another.

Jeremiah 1.5 says, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou came as forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. Sanctified from the womb. Think about that. That's the Lord's people. And I understand the rest of that says, and I ordain thee a prophet unto the nations. And somebody else said, well, he's just talking about Jeremiah. He's not talking about all of his people. Yes, he is. He's talking about every one of his people. It's exactly what he's talking about. His love is an eternal love for all that the father gave him in the covenant of grace for his elect.

Listen to what he said, Jeremiah 31, the Lord hath appeared unto me of old saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Therefore, therefore he loves those that were chosen and he passed by the rest. It's his right as God. What amazes me is that he would choose to love. Somebody says, well, that's his character. That's part of his nature. I understand that. But if you really see yourself the sinner that you are, if the Lord really reveals to you, he dangles you over a hill and shows you what you deserve, you say, Lord, I'm undone. I'm undone. I don't deserve anything. And that's exactly the time the Lord gives you grace and mercy. That's the beauty. That's the beautiful part of it. Grace and mercy is not something that we can earn. It's given because he loves his people, loves his people.

Ephesians chapter one, verse four. We've heard this several times in the last few weeks. According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Lord said all that the Father giveth me shall come to me he that comes to me on no wise cast out he said all the father give me of all the father all that the father's give me I've not lost one not lost one he won't lose one.

Greg's already quoted this a little bit, but in John chapter 10, 28 through 33, he says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. We call some goats. So can a goat become a sheep? Certainly not. Told the Pharisees, you're of your father, the devil, and you will not come to me that you might have eternal life. So the Lord Jesus Christ loves his bride, particularly, particularly. He doesn't have a general love. He didn't come to save creation. He came to save the elect creatures. Because heaven and earth will pass away, scripture says, it'll burn up with a fervent heat. He loves his elect, his bride, his sheep.

Turn with me to Mark chapter 10. Some have said that this is Paul the Apostle, whenever his name was Saul still, though scripture is not clear on that. I just mentioned it for the fact of curiosity. I would never get into a debate about this, but I know one thing, this is a brother of ours. I'll show you why here in just a second.

Let's read this Mark chapter 11, verse 17 through 22. And when Jesus was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother. And he answered and said, master, all these have I observed from my youth up.

Now get this verse. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him. Then Jesus beholding him loved him. We have sufficient evidence in this particular passage, that is a brother. That is a brother. If the Lord loves somebody, he's always loved that person. He'll never stop loving that person. His love does not change. It can't be altered. He only loves one way, a perfect love. He doesn't have a general love for everything. He loves his people because they're in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then Jesus saw him, beholding him, loved him. and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor. Thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross, take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at the saying, went away grieved, for he had great possessions.

Now I'm not sure when it came to be, but that man ended up hearing the gospel and believed because Jesus Christ loved him. Every person that the Lord loved, that he died for, has been redeemed. And in the fullness of time, the Lord calls them out of darkness into his light. This is what we find in the scripture over and over again. It's at his appointed time.

I love the fact that he said, when he beheld him, he loved him. Did you know there was a time the Lord beheld us? and loved us. Actually, it was before time because he's omnipotent. I can't understand that, but I know that that's true. He said we're given to him before the foundation of the world. He's a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But he beheld us through the eye of love. He had compassion upon us.

And as we heard We weren't. No one would swaddle us. No one would clothe us. We were without clothing. We were polluted. We were in our own blood. And he washed us and he made us clean. This is what he did all by himself. That's what his love accomplished. That's what his love accomplished.

I want to say this before I go to the next point. It's important. And I've said it already, I think, but I just want to be as clear as I can be. Jesus Christ does not love everyone. He doesn't. He didn't die for everyone. Salvation is not up to you and I to accept it or reject it. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is a choice, God's choice. It's not my choice. We have these scriptures. time and time again that communicate this to us.

Now, whether we choose to believe that or not is going to be either the gift of faith is given to us or we're going to hate it. One of the two. That's the only two options if we hear it. And some people sit underneath the gospel and they never hear it. If they did, they'd either get mad and leave or they would want to confess it. So, but sometimes they don't hear anything. They just hear words like Jesus and salvation and love. And they, they're content to just hear that and they feel better. Oh, I want to know that the Lord loves me. I don't want to play church. I don't want to have just a feeling, have an emotion, have a some kind of a experience. I want to see him as he is. I want to know him in the free pardon of sin. I want to have faith to believe him as all my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. I've got to know that he loves me and you have to know that he loves you.

The offer that Christ did was to the Father because he loved the Father. He's obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We see that example in Abraham and Isaac when Isaac was taken up on the Mount Moriah with his father. He said, Father, here's the wood. Here's the fire for the burnt offering. Where's the sacrifice? He said, God will provide himself a sacrifice. And he did, didn't he? He provided himself as the sacrifice.

But this time, this time the sword of justice had to pierce the sun. When the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross, it couldn't be sheathed back up without justice being satisfied because he was burying our sin in his body on the tree. Everyone that he loves, he was dying for, his bride, the church, his elected people.

Now go with me back to Ephesians chapter three. Let's just read this again, verse 13. Wherefore, I desire that ye thank not my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

My second question's this. How could the sovereign creator love a sinner like you and a sinner like me? That's some information I need to know. because the Lord has revealed I'm a wretch and I'm vile and I can't do anything right. I have wronged God, breaking his law. I haven't kept one law in my entire life. I need a substitute. So how is it that God can love me?

Well, it can't be nothing in me because Paul said in me that is to say in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That ain't just his flesh. That's our flesh too. It's all flesh is grass. That's what the scripture says. James 4.14 says, whereas you don't know what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, then vanisheth away. We're just a vapor or a blade of grass. So what are we gonna do in order to get God to love us? Nothing.

Because God, as we heard first hour in his infinite wisdom, knew that only God could please God. God has to please God. You and I can't do it. You and I can't do it. The Lord Jesus Christ had to be robed in the likeness of sinful flesh. You know why? Because there's nothing, just as there's nothing good in me, there's nothing bad in him. Just as there's nothing but sin in me, there's nothing but holiness and righteousness in him. Just as I'm imperfect, flawed, corrupt, and wretched, he's perfect and wonderful and beautiful. He's the opposite of what we are, and He pleases the Father. You and I can't do that. We can't please the Father in our flesh. We can't. Scripture says it clearly. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. So if I'm going to be loved by God, God's going to have to satisfy the demands for me to be loved.

The answer to how God loves a sinner like you or me is very simple. It's one of my most favorite words. It's called grace. It's what God chooses to do, even though we don't deserve it, even though we didn't earn it, even though there's not. It's exactly the opposite of what we deserve.

So mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. What don't we deserve? We don't deserve to be loved. We don't deserve to be given peace and joy and hope and rest. We don't deserve that in and of ourself. We don't deserve that.

But it was grace that drew salvation's plan, and it was grace that brought it down to man. That's what the song says. God chose to love his people before time because of his amazing, unchangeable, everlasting grace. And because of that grace, when he sees us, he sees us as righteous, not as we are. He doesn't see the sin any longer, because they're gone. He sees us as holy, just as he is, because he is our sanctification. He sees us as good and just and true and loyal.

Do you know the Lord sees you as perfectly faithful? I don't know that I've ever been faithful 100% on anything. Maybe I'm telling on myself and everybody else is like, what? I've been very faithful. Well, good for you. I just know my flesh and how we'll be devoted to something. Every project around my house, I've only finished like 98%. I never get 100% done with it. I don't know. Maybe I'm the only guy that does that, but it's constant. I need to do that last little piece. That's all I need to do. I'm not faithful enough to do that. Why? I don't know. But Christ is faithful. And when God sees you because you're in Christ, he sees the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees you as worthy, not as you are. That's the glorious truth of his gospel.

This is what the love of God accomplished for his people. There's nothing in me that made God love me. Not one thing. God's love is conditional set upon his son. I have to be in Christ. If I'm not in Christ, I'm not loved of God. I'm not loved of God.

So how do I get in Christ? Well, he's the only one that can do that. He's the only one that can do that. Which brings us to our last question. What does it mean if Christ loves me? What does it mean? Well, It means he's your substitute. It means he took your place. It means he bore your guilt, your punishment, your shame. He died your death. He took your nails, your crown. He took the full wrath of God. He took eternal hell upon the cross for your sin in your place, in your room instead.

If he loves me, it means that he shed his blood for me and he satisfied God's demands. He washed away the sins of his people, making them disappear, gone. Made them vanish. How'd they vanish? Well, that's a mystery, isn't it? But they're gone. He says, I'm gonna cast them as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again.

If he loves me, it means I've always been in him from the beginning of time. There's never been a time whenever I was not in him. There was never any danger of me or you going to hell whatsoever because he's eternal, omnipotent. He's always seen us, always loved us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Never seen us outside of Christ. How do we know that? Well, he doesn't change. He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So it can't be that he used to not love me, now he loves me. That means he changed. He can't change. He's always loved his elect.

Because his love is everlasting, there was never been or never will be a time when he does not love me, he does not love you. If he loves me, there'll never be a time that he doesn't love you. There'll never be a space in eternity that he doesn't love you. You're not in any danger whatsoever for him falling out of love with you. It's impossible.

We fall in and out of love with different things all the time, don't we? Not him. His love is consistent. His love is, it's a perfect love. And there'll never be a time when he doesn't love me or love you if we're in Christ.

Turn with me to Romans chapter eight. Paul was persuaded of the same thing. Look at verse 31 through the end of the chapter. What shall we then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yet rather that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For it is written, for thy sakes we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, And if you're His, you're persuaded too. That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm persuaded. Could have titled the message I'm Persuaded. persuaded that we cannot be separated from his love. Why? Because the Lord said it, and he cannot lie. I've loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, in mercy and loving kindness, I have drawn thee, drawn thee. Oh, the unspeakable gift of our Lord. Nothing can separate us from his love. I didn't get in his love, and I can't get out of his love. That's good news, if you see yourself a sinner.

His love is perfect because of the source. Now in closing, go back to our text again. Ephesians chapter three. Look at verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth, and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. He says that you might be able to comprehend that which passeth knowledge. Think about that. How's that possible? Being rooted and grounded in faith, having our hearts. Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you be rooted and grounded in love. That's how, that's how. He gives faith to believe it.

How high is it? It's higher than the heavens. How wide is it? It's wide as you can, from everlasting to everlasting. So why does he say the height, the breadth, the length and depth? Because it's intended to make us scratch our head and say, Lord, I don't understand that, but I believe it by grace alone. You give me faith to believe it. I believe it. I don't comprehend it completely as its entirety, but I see that it's eternal. I see that it's only for your people. I see that you loved your people and gave your life for your people. I believe that. And I see that because you loved me, you made me the righteousness of God in you. We are able to comprehend that God is just and the justifier, that by his grace alone, he loves us. His grace alone. By his love, he redeemed us back to God. And I might not be able to explain it, but I believe it. I believe it. We believe it by grace through faith alone.

Thank God for the love of Christ given to his people freely by his grace. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would take this and bless it to our understanding for your glory. In Christ's name, amen.